About Living Art Tattoo
Living Art Tattoo was opened in 2000 by Jason Taulbee, who conceived the shop as a more artistic alternative to the street shops east of Portland. It was this artist-driven environment that attracted Dominick McIntosh in 2006 and Danny Waller in 2007. When Jason decided to move to the greener pastures of Northern California, he sold Living Art to his former employees. Danny and Dominick teamed up with Joe Skramstad, placing greater emphasis on custom, large scale work. Today, Living Art Tattoo is the most respected shop east of Portland, with plans to dominate the Pacific Northwest.
Artist Bio : Dominick McIntosh
Dominick never planned on being a tattooer as a young man, believing he was "too nerdy." He figured he'd stick to comic book and fantasy art, and leave tattooing to the tough guys. However, his nerdy friends Eric and Joe Skramstad started tattooing and dragged him into it. He began his apprenticeship under Eric in the spring of 2003 at Edge Tattoo in Rhode Island, and did his first portrait in 2005. The Alan Alda portrait ("Hawkeye" from M*A*S*H) ended up on BMEzine's Modblog, and eventually on A&E's television special, "Tattoo Fixation." After a one year stint tattooing in Hawaii, Dominick moved to Oregon to work at Living Art and now is Part Owner.Dominick's specialty is large-scale tattoos with realistic rendering. His favorite styles EVIL black & gray, Buddhist and Hindu imagery, portraiture, biomechanical, landscapes, and Japanese.
Artist Bio : Joe Skramstad
Joe Skramstad started his tattoo apprenticeship with artist Ken Williamson in Massachusetts in 2001. Working his way through an excellent, art focused apprenticeship he landed a junior artist spot at the Edge Tattoo in Pawtucket, RI where he “got his chops down” and started developing his own artistic style. In September 2005 Joe decided to branch out and see a different part of the world and moved to Hawaii. After working at a few spots in the Honolulu area, he chose to move to the beautiful “Valley Isle” of Maui where he worked at Atomic Tattoo in Lahaina. After a year of living in a tropical paradise, he found his way back to the east coast where he worked at Visions Tattoo Gallery in Medway, Mass. In the summer of 2008, Joe was given the opportunity to partner with his longtime friend and fellow tattoo artist Dominick McIntosh and Danny Waller to purchase Living Art Tattoo which is located in Gresham, Oregon.Influenced by many artists and painters ranging from Dali to Davinci, Joe is well well-versed in many tattooing styles and other styles of art. Since moving to Hawaii and being exposed in-depth to the Japanese tattooing style he has expanded his artistic scope to include Japanese imagery and composition by incorporating it into his own non-Japanese tattoos. His specialty is the bright, bold, colorful, exaggerated style of new-school art with a focus on realistic proportions. He really enjoys full color compositions with subject matter ranging from Neo-traditional designs to fantastic imagery such as dragons, Geiger-esque bio mech, faeries and mermaids. He enjoys taking on large body projects, back pieces, as well as one session tattoos, and working on designs with his clients.
Joe's goal is to continually learn and push his own creative and artistic boundaries as he works with more and more great artists. He refuses to become stagnant and is dedicated to constantly growing as a person and artist with his sights always focused on his personal development.
Artist Bio : Danny Waller
Artist Bio : Austin
Austin as well never planned on being a tattooer either but first became interested in high school from tattooing himself & his degenerate friends w/ a homemade machine & stolen India ink from the art supply room. He was eventually able to leave the hospitality industry & became a part of the RAT-A-TAT family owned by Jamie Lang in Spokane WA in 2003. After living out the short life of that shop, Austin went back to the hospitality industry & construction business building roof trusses until he decided to move to Portland to snowboard all year long in 2004. After graduating from Western culinary institute 2005 he quickly realized he was not a fan of commercial kitchens or working holidays for little pay so he went to Vancouver & worked in several shops where he was so fortunate to meet Danny Waller who later invited him to become a coworker @ Living Art Tattoo in Gresham. He feels fortunate to be a part of the crew & to be able to work alongside the incredible people that work there.Austin loves tattooing colorful flowers, black & grey stonework, evil things, & of course skulls.